Tables

Tables

What are Tables?

Lucy has a gerbil, a mouse, and 2 cats; Rabia has a cat and dog; Sarah has 4 mice and a cat; Mia has 2 cats and 3 gerbils; Anna has a dog and 3 mice.

If I was to ask you: How many mice are there in total? It might take you a while to search through and find all the children with mice and then add them all up without making a mistake.

But here is the same information in a table:

Lucy

Rabia

Sarah

Mia

Anna

Gerbils

1

3

Mice

1

4

3

Cats

0

1

0

0

1

Dogs

2

1

1

2

The left column and top row of the table has headings and inside the table is the information or data.

To count all the mice you just look for the heading ‘Mouse’ and then add the values in that column:

1 + 4 + 3 = 8

If we were asked, does Mia have a gerbil? We could quickly find Mia’s name in the heading and then look in the gerbil column and see that yes, she has 3!

So be thankful for tables, they make life easier!

Distance Tables

Distance tables show the distances between places.

Unlike most tables they only have one heading – usually the place name.

The data inside the table shows the distance between the places named in the headings.

Here is a distance table showing the distance in miles between four big cities in England:

If you want to find the distance between Birmingham and Newcastle you can read it from the table. You just find Birmingham on the table, then move across the grid until you reach the Newcastle column. The number you find is located where Birmingham and Newcastle both intersect and it shows the distance between them:

206 miles

For the distance between London and Manchester, find the number where London and Manchester intersect:

208 miles

Timetables

Timetables tell us at what time something is going to happen.

Often they show things like ‘when a bus is arriving’ or ‘when a train is departing’.

Timetables will usually show the time using the 24 hour clock.

Here is a timetable for The Super-Duper Space Shuttle. It leaves Earth and stops at Mars, Jupiter and Saturn:

Earth

08:45

10:30

12:45

14:30

Mars

09:22

11:07

13:22

15:07

Jupiter

10:32

12:17

14:32

16:17

Saturn

13:05

13:50

16:05

17:50

The time the shuttle leaves earth is the first row of times. The shuttle leaves earth at 08:45, 10:30, 12:45 and 14:30.

The next row shows the times it picks up passengers on Mars.

The next row shows the time the shuttle visits Jupiter.

And the final row shows when it reaches it’s final destination, Saturn.

Example

Question: At what time must I catch The Super-Duper Space Shuttle from Earth to get to a meeting on Jupitor at 12:00?

We need to find the time of a shuttle leaving Earth that will arrive on Jupiter before 12:00.

The only one that arrives on Jupiter before 12:00 is the first shuttle leaving Earth at 08:45.